Police Blotter: Church Rock man pleads guilty to manslaughter

ALBUQUERQUE

Randy Payton, 35, of Church Rock, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in federal district court here on Tuesday.

He is accused of killing his partner, who is referred to in the police report as John Doe, in October of 2016 after the two had been drinking and got into a verbal argument and then a physical confrontation.

Under the plea agreement that he made with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Payton will be sentenced to serve between seven and 13 years for his involvement in the death of Doe.

Payton, when interviewed by Navajo Nation Police after John Doe’s body was found in his trailer in Mariano Lake, admitted that the two had argued and fought but he said he acted in self-defense and tried several times during the fight to get Doe to stop.

According to Payton’s account, the two had been drinking at Doe’s residence on Oct. 14, going through two pint bottles of vodka, when Doe became upset that a friend of Payton’s was going to show up that evening. Payton said he took this to indicate that Doe was “very jealous.”

At that point, he said, things got out of hand.

It began with Doe, in Payton’s account, attacking him with a fire stoker. Payton said he told Doe at that time “to knock it off.”

Instead, Payton said Joe came at him with a log, hitting him on the knee. Police later said when interviewed, Payton had an injury to his knee.

Payton said he then knocked the log out of Doe’s hand, causing him to fall to the ground. He then got up and came at Payton again with Payton claiming he shoved him to the side and told him again to stop fighting.

Payton said he picked up the shovel used to clean up the ash in the fireplace and smacked Doe with it, hitting him in the side. By then, Payton said, he and Doe both were angry.

The fight continued for several more minutes, he said, with Doe picking up a metal piece and coming at him. But instead of hitting him, he hit the wall at which time Payton again told Doe to stop because they were damaging the trailer.

The fight ended, Payton said, after he had slapped Doe several times in the face and went after him with the ash shovel. Payton said he thought that he hit the shower curtain with the shovel but in actuality had hit Doe in the head with it.

No date has been set as yet for Payton’s sentencing.

Shiprock man pleads guilty to assaulting officer

ALBUQUERQUE – Abner Joe, a resident of Shiprock, pleaded guilty in federal district court here July 12 to assaulting a federal officer.

Joe, 55, was indicted on Aug. 10, 2016, in connection with an incident that took place a week earlier when Navajo Nation Police were dispatched to a Shiprock residence in connection with a family disturbance.

When police got to the residence they were told that Joe, who caused the disturbance, was hiding in a tarp-covered trailer nearby. When police went to the trailer, they found Joe lying in it.

According to police, Joe began yelling at the officers, “Get away from me. I have a gun. I am going to shoot you.”

He then refused to come out. Instead he threw a hammer at the officers. Police were forced to deploy a taser but it had no effect.

Joe then picked up a 2×4 board and began advancing toward the officers in a threatening manner, according to police. Officers then threatened to tase him again and he became compliant, allowing himself to be handcuffed.

He was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct.
But as he was transported to jail, Joe continued to yell at one of the officers, saying she “was going to die tonight” along with her family. He also claimed the officer’s police unit was going to catch on fire and she “was going to burn.”

Once they got to the jail and Joe was taken out of the police unit, Joe reportedly leaned toward the police officer and spit on her, hitting her in the face.

The officer said she could feel Joe’s spit on her cheeks and upper lip. The officer then pushed Joe’s face away to keep him from spitting at her again. He was then processed on charges of aggravated battery, threatening, assault and disorderly conduct.

Navajo police are commissioned as special federal officers for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs which made Joe’s actions a federal as well as a tribal crime.

In pleading guilty, Joe faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal prison. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Ramah man sentenced for manslaughter

ALBUQUERQUE – A Ramah man indicted in January for murder was given a 48-month sentence in federal prison July 12 by a federal judge after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Nochise Martinez, 23, was indicted for murder and offenses committed in Indian Country in connection with the death of 20-year-old Paul Apachito Jr. of Ramah.

According to the indictment, law enforcement officials were called to the Zuni Hospital early on Dec. 31 in connection with a man who had died “of a stabbing during a fight in Ramah.”

The victim’s friends had driven him to the hospital and the indictment said when officials got there, he was unresponsive.
A witness told FBI agents his friend had received a text message from a woman he knew asking for his help because her boyfriend (Martinez) “was trying to break windows in her house and was trying to break her car windows.”

The witness said he drove the victim and his cousin to the woman’s house. Martinez answered the door with a knife in his hand. A fight began and the victim’s cousin joined in, tackling Martinez and causing him to run off.

The witness said that when they got back in the car, they noticed that their friend’s shirt was soaked in a red substance. Since there was no time to wait for an ambulance, the witness said they decided to drive him directly to the hospital.

The cousin told the FBI that when he entered the fight, he saw Martinez holding the knife and tried to get it away from him but he failed. Instead, he said he punched Martinez once or twice, causing him to run away.

FBI Special Agent William Weiss said he went to the site of the fight and found a pair of nunchucks and a small metal baton that was broken. He said he also found a few drops of a red substance on the ground.
He also observed that every window in the house had been broken as well as one of the doors to the house.

Weiss said that the victim had at least five stab wounds – two to the right upper chest, one to the upper left chest and two to the left arm.
Martinez turned himself in to the Ramah police on the next day, according to police.

Five-year-old Torreon boy bitten by pit bull

A pit bull given to a family by their neighbor attacked and injured a five-year-old boy in Torreon, New Mexico, at his home on Sunday, July 9.

According to Navajo Nation Police officer Kansas Antone, Torreon EMS informed her they were responding to a dog bite call on Rico Marquez Road.

Antone said she followed the ambulance and was waved down by a Dodge pickup truck. Antone met with the bite victim and his mother, Chelsea Castillo, 23.

Antone said she noticed injuries the boy sustained from the dog attack.

“I saw a cut and a puncture just below (the) right side of the eye. The middle portion under the right eye had a puncture wound, the right upper lip had a laceration cut and was swollen,” Antone said.

Antone added that EMS confirmed the boy lost two to three front teeth. He was transported to the hospital for his injuries.

The officer then followed the boy’s grandmother Bernice Castillo, 52, to her home at Rural Address 2625, where the dog was located.

Antone and Castillo arrived at the home. After confirming the dog that bit the child was at Castillo’s home, Antone said she used her duty handgun and shot and killed the dog.

Two-vehicle fatal accident

Navajo Police Officer Iris Yazzie with the Dilkon Police District responded to a two-vehicle fatal accident on Navajo Route 15 at milepost 66.7, which is between Indian Wells, Arizona, and Dilkon, on July 6.

According to Yazzie’s report, witnesses said a blue van driven by Orlando Charley, 47, and his passenger were driving in the eastbound lane when it crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a white Ford pickup truck.

Yazzie said motorists were “trying to get the occupants of the van out with lug wrenches and crow bars,” as she arrived on scene.

A registered nurse and another motorist were giving first aid to the two occupants of the pickup truck were also injured, he added.

Yazzie said she “determined the two occupants of the van were deceased.”

Emergency responders with Navajo EMS, Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Aerocare Medical Helicopter and fire departments from Holbrook, Ganado, and the Navajo Nation, assisted with extrication, said Yazzie.

Yazzie said alcohol appeared to be a factor in the crash and listed Charley as a suspect in her report.

The two occupants in the Ford truck were flown to the Flagstaff Medical Center. The investigation is continuing.

Officer Yazzie responded to another two-vehicle accident, along with Parold Yazzie, on Navajo Route 60 at milepost 11.5, on July 15, in Dilkon south of the Giant gas station.

Yazzie said Sheldon David, 23, Rancita David, no age listed, and a juvenile female passenger, in a full-size pickup truck, collided with a four-door sedan, driven by Kyle Jensen, 30.

Yazzie stated in her report the “sedan driver was traveling northbound in the southbound lane. The truck tried evading the car, both vehicles swerved across the center line, colliding with each other.”

All four who were involved in the accident were transported to the Little Colorado Medical Center in Winslow, Arizona, for their injuries.

Fatal crash at Aneth

Navajo Police Officer Gregory Benally with the Shiprock Police District responded to a fatal vehicle crash on Utah Highway 162 at milepost 1.5, on the evening of July 5, in Aneth, Utah.

Benally said Joshua Kyle Begay, 29, Phillip Rants, and Randolph Berk were traveling in a white-colored Chrysler van on a dirt road.

Benally wrote in his report, “the van went off the roadway and rolled approximately two times down an embankment, coming to a final rest west of the roadway.”

Begay suffered life-threatening injuries and died on scene, while Rants and Berk were transported to medical centers, Benally said.

The accident is being investigated by criminal investigators with the Shiprock Police District.

Officer helps fight fire

Police with the Chinle Police District are investigating a house fire at NHA-Sunnyside House in Chinle that occurred on July 8.
Navajo Police Officer Eddie Halwood said he arrived on scene and noticed the front door of the house open. He walked into the house and “saw smoke and flames coming from down the hallway.”

He walked into the kitchen and saw the ceiling was starting to catch fire as well as a cabinet burning on the floor.

“I ran back out to my Navajo Nation police vehicle and grabbed my fire extinguisher, ran back to the front door of the house but it was too late for me to go back into the house to try and put out the fire,” Halwood said. “The flames were down the hall on the ceiling by then.”

Halwood assisted a responding firefighter with the Chinle Fire Department and a rescue vehicle to extinguish the fire.

Halwood said he “assisted the firefighter in hooking up a larger fire hose to a fire hydrant to the fire truck while he was getting ready.”

Halwood said foul play is suspected.

“Criminal investigator’s finding that the possible suspect(s), which is unknown at this time, entered into a back window next to the black door, by removing a plywood that was screwed into wall covering up the windows started the fire and ran out the front door,” said Halwood.

Halwood said workers with the Navajo Housing Authority, who were on scene, stated to him the house was about 75 percent completed with the renovation on the inside and they were almost done.

Auto mechanic stabbed

Auto mechanic Karl Kamenske, 48, walked into the Health Center emergency room in Kayenta, Arizona, on July 11, reporting he was stabbed while asking a customer for money owed to him for auto repair work he did.

According to Navajo Police Officer Virgil Smith with the Kayenta Police District, Kamenske said he approached suspect Tonya Redbow informing her she owed him $600 for the repair he did for her.

“The suspect approached him, telling him she did not owe him anything. The suspect poured some unknown liquid with a strange odor on his face and got him disoriented and was stabbed with an unknown sharp object,” Smith wrote in his report.

Kamenske received a one-inch cut on his chest area, a quarter-inch puncture wound on his left shoulder and about a three-inch cut under his left armpit.

Kamenske told Smith he “thought it wasn’t something big until several hours later when he noticed he needed to get medical treatment for his wounds.”

He was transported to the emergency room by his wife.

Smith said the suspect is a member of the Sioux Tribe from North Dakota and might be traveling back. The case is continuing to be investigated.

Fight at Kaibeto

A fight resulting in serious bodily injury happened 1.4 miles east of the Kaibeto Market in Kaibeto, July 13.

According to a report from Navajo Police officers Michael Brodie and Joseph Gregg, Micaldred Betoney, 23, charged at Latoyarue Smith, 22, during a fight at the residence of Rosita Smith, 46.

The report says Smith had a knife, which he allegedly used on Betoney.

Navajo Nation EMS and Sacred Mountain Medical Service gave medical attention. Charges are pending further investigation.

Self-inflicted stabbing in Low Mountain

A stabbing incident, which was later determined to be a self-inflicted stab wound, was reported to the Chinle Police District on July 16 in Low Mountain, Arizona.

According to Navajo Police Officer Aaron Yazzie with the Chinle Police District, Charleston Baker, 51, reported he was stabbed.

EMS emergency personnel met with a vehicle transporting Baker near the chapter house in Whippoorwill, Arizona.

“Baker was under the influence of intoxicating liquors and mentioned he was drinking with unknown individuals at an undisclosed location and was stabbed by an unknown assailant,” Yazzie’s report read.

“The victim’s spouse, Rachel Purley, disclosed Baker’s injury was self-inflicted. She alleged he has history of causing harm to himself.”

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